1. MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSES
Lily Allen – Littlest Things
Kate Nash – Pumpkin Soup
Lucy Spraggan – Last Night
Ellie Goulding – Lights
2. LILY ALLEN – LITTLEST THINGS
Sven Carlsson Andrew Goodwin
•Commercial exhibitionist – •Cinematic genre,
selling their body image, •Visual art,
voice, face, lifestyle, etc. •Post-modern texts.
Theorists
Michael Shore
•Surface without substance “I was just so happy in your
(lyrics don’t have anything to boxers and your t-shirts”
do with the video)
“Drinkin’ tea in bed, watching “you took me out shopping
•Classical storytelling motifs.
DVD’s” and all we ‘d buy is trainers”
3. GENRE
The genre of Lily Allen’s Littlest Things song is
the pop genre. It is this particular genre
because it follows all the conventions like
selling their image in their videos and
conventional verse, bridge, chorus songs.
4. CONCEPT MEANINGS
• The concept behind this music video is an old-movie feel.
However, this is ironic because the lyrics do not match up to
the video. For example;
• “Drinkin’ tea in bed, watching DVD’s when I discovered all
your dirty grotty magazines”.
• Although the lyrics and the song do not match up – perhaps
she is using the old-fashioned movie style video to emphasise
that she wants her relationship to be like the old-fashioned
movie and like the images that we see.
5. CAMERA
1. The first shot is a birds eye view of a piano that then pans
forward.
2. The camera then zooms into an old fashioned camera to show
an older version of the video.
3. Medium close-up
4. Pans out to show establishing shot of Allen and the man.
5. Close-up of piano playing itself.
6. Zooms out of old fashioned camera – opposite of start, shows
that the video is coming to an end.
7. SOUND
• Can hear people talking faintly in the background (diagetic).
• Song structure is very conventional for the pop genre.
• Music starts with an old sounding piano and crackling (like on
a TV show).
• Juxtaposition when it goes through the camera into an ‘old
movie’ feel. Also the sound changes.
• The sound changing is clever because the sound starts to
sound like old-fashioned piano playing yet we are clearly in
the present day, but when we go through the camera into the
old fashioned days – the sound becomes more modern and
present.
8. EDITING
1. 0.00-0.37 – sequence shot. No other editing is being used.
2. 0.39 – close up.
3. Establishing shot of building.
4. Cut shot used before she starts to dance with the man.
10. MISE-EN-SCENE
1. Colour – black and white is the dominant colour. This is used
to give the video an ‘old’ feel to it.
2. Dressed in old-fashioned clothes. Re-enforces that the video is
supposed to be set in olden times.
3. Lighting – lighting is kept dark (this usually connotes to having
a mysterious feel to it).
4. Set design – looks like it is all filmed on one set because there
are a few sequence shots.
12. KATE NASH – PUMPKIN SOUP
Sven Carlsson Michael Shore
•Televised bard – she is •Clichéd imagery ,
telling the story of how she •Stimulated experience,
likes this guy and she is •Album art come to turgid
using the power of images life,
to show this. •Surface without
substance,
•Immediate gratification.
Theorists
Andrew Goodwin
•Visual art,
•Dreams.
13. GENRE
• Kate Nash’s Pumpkin Soup is most likely to be in the
pop genre because it follows the typical pop genre
conventions. For example; the song is about
love/relationships and the artist is wearing
stylish/modern clothing. Some could argue that it
could also fall into the indie category because she is
more quirky than most current pop artists. Also, her
voice is more like talking than usual auto-tuned pop
artists.
14. CONCEPT MEANINGS
• The main concept behind this video is an upbeat, quirky love
story.
• This is done deliberately so that it does not follow the typical
pop genre conventions of soppy love stories told through
music.
• For example; “you’re chatting to me like we connect, but I
don’t even know if we’re still friends”.
• I think the main message in the video is that she doesn’t want
a relationship but to be ‘loved’. Like a ‘no-strings-attached’
relationship.
15. CAMERA
1. The opening title is set out like a TV show opening title, e.g.
“starring”.
2. Close up.
3. Establishing shot of the kissing booth.
4. Medium close up of shoes.
5. Panning sideways – showing the two cats.
6. High shot.
7. End scene is zooms out with a heart.
17. SOUND
• Images shown change in time with the beat.
• Non-diagetic used – boy is talking to the artist but we don’t
hear (used as a storytelling motif). Also see it when the boy is
watching TV.
• Song follows typical pop genre conventions, e.g. verse, bridge,
chorus, key change.
• Also see the boy singing along to the lyrics but we can’t hear
him.
18. EDITING
1. Set out like a cartoon TV show in the opening.
2. Experimented with different font styles (emphasises the
cartoon feel to the video).
3. Editing is showing the boy ‘putting a spell on her’ and
blindfolding her (this matches the lyrics) – “but I trip fast and
then I lose”.
4. Continuous cuts when they are in the kissing booth.
5. Cutaways between the acrobatic cat and them at the kissing
booth.
20. MISE-EN-SCENE
1. Colour – pink and red are the dominant colours in this video.
This is re-enforcing the valentine/love/romantic feel to the
song because the lyrics do not give this away. The
connotations of red and pink are often love and romance so it
is easy to assume this has been done for a reason.
2. they are dressed quite modern but not in an obvious ‘pop-
star’ way.
3. The lighting is kept bright and colourful to emphasise the
cheeriness and show that it is upbeat.
4. Set design – the set is just one big set with different props but
with the same lighting, etc.
22. LUCY SPRAGGAN – LAST NIGHT
Michael Shore Sven Carlsson
Album art come to turgid life, Televised Bard – she is telling a
Classical storytelling motifs, story to us about last night. This
Ambivalence, is done through images and
Clichéd imagery. short clips.
Theorists
Andrew Goodwin
Cinematic genre,
Visual art.
23. GENRE
• Lucy Spraggan’s Last Night falls into the indie
category because her voice is more unique
than most pop artists because it is almost like
she is talking. Also, her lyrics are different and
written about different things (alcohol) rather
than typical pop genre meanings like love.
24. CONCEPT MEANINGS
• The main concept behind this video is talking about her night
and referring to alcohol.
• For example in the lyrics she said “last night I told you I loved
you, woke up, blamed it on the vodka”.
• The difference between this video and the message is that
she wrote the song deliberately so that the audience could
connect and understand what she is singing about.
25. CAMERA
1. The opening starts with a close up of the artist – already the
audience knows that this is the singer and the video will be
focused around her.
2. Over-the-shoulder shot when a man is playing darts.
3. Panning when following the artist.
4. Extreme close-up of her playing the piano.
5. Birds eye view of her ‘dancing’.
6. Ends with a close up of the artists – this is interesting
because it starts in the same way as it begins (set, costume,
etc).
27. SOUND
• Song starts off simply with a guitar and her singing.
• Diagetic sound of bottles clinking.
• Lyrics are quirky and a mix of indie-pop. They do not follow
the typical pop genre conventions of lyrics. For example;
“Wish I could stop, and I’m not joking, drinking too much and
socially smoking”.
28. EDITING
1. The video is set out like it is in reverse (this is done
continuously through the whole video).
2. However, she appears to be walking forwards while everyone
else is going backwards. Again, this re-enforces that she is
the main singer.
3. Sequence shot when she is walking through the streets.
4. The video is set in slow-motion.
5. Cutaways from her dancing to playing the boxing game.
6. The last 15 seconds are all in normal (not reverse) – showing
that her night has finally come to an end and so has the
video.
30. MISE-EN-SCENE
1. Colour – the colour theme is quite dark because she is singing
about the night before and so the setting is in a pub and
outside when she is walking.
2. Her dress sense is very casual. It also fits in appropriately with
the setting which is a night out in the pub.
3. Lighting – the lighting is kept dark because it is being
presented in a pub in the evening. However, there are a few
colour juxtapositions. For example; the multi-coloured dance
floor.
4. Set design – the set design looks like a pub. It is most likely
that the set was specifically designed for this video and made
to look like an actual pub.
32. ELLIE GOULDING - LIGHTS
Sven Carlss
Commercial exhibisionist –
Michael Shore
Surface without substance she is selling the voice, the
Album art come to turgid life face, lifestyle, records, etc.
Image and style scavengers
Theorists
Andrew Goodwin
Visual art
Electronic wallpaper
33. GENRE
Lights falls into the indie-pop genre because the song
and the artist are more quirky and different from
standard pop genres. However; the song itself does
follow some particular traits of a pop song. E.g. its
catchy. The video also falls into the indie-pop
category because it is a performance video whereas
a pop video would most likely to be narrative, for
example; Cher Lloyd, Taylor Swift, etc.
34. CONCEPT MEANINGS
The main concept behind Ellie Goulding’s Lights is how
she has become amore confident and stronger
person since she met this person. We are never told
who the person is so it could be anyone from her
love interest to a parent. This adds to the mysterious
feel of the video and the lyrics of the song.
35. CAMERA
1. The song starts with different kinds of flashing
lights.
2. Medium long shot.
3. Medium close up.
4. Cutaway.
5. Panning around the subject.
37. SOUND
• Starts off with an electronic sound then her
voice with a drum beat.
• See her play a variety of instruments in the
video (drums and tambourine).
• Lyrics are unusual – doesn’t talk directly about
love or anything in particular – have to analyse
the lyrics to understand the meanings behind
them.
38. EDITING
1. Artist fades in over the lights.
2. Panning around imaginary lights in slow
motion.
3. Cuts from different shots of her.
4. Dissolving out.
5. Slow motion.
40. MISE-EN-SCENE
• Colour – the initial colour of the video is dark and black.
However; the lights are bright (showing that they are
significant in the video and black is the best backdrop to put
them against.
• Her dress sense is obvious and well thought about. She is
making sure that she dresses like a pop star.
• Lighting – the lighting is dark with flashes of bright lights.
• Set design – the set design is set in a studio because it is big
and dark and there are no props being used.
